Promise
by not.in.hufflepuff
Summary: Two boys, Johnny and Ponyboy have had enough. It time for them to say goodbye to the Socs and the Greasers. But what sets them off to finally make them do it?


**Disclaimer: In no way do I own The Outsiders or anything by S.E. Hinton...**

**That was completely pointless but this is my FanFiction so I can do anything I want mua haha haha (evil voice)**

…

**Promise**

"Oh shit! Johnny get up!"

I can't believe we overslept. Darry is going to rip me up in a million pieces. Think man, think! Gosh I can never think right. I have all the book smarts in the world but common sense is something I will never have. I can't imagine what might happen to me sooner or later. I'm a Greaser, a hood, the lowest of the lows. The Socs look just to find us out to jump us and do who knows what. If I keep this up, goodbye Ponyboy Curtis.

"Johnny, get your ass up! Don't you care what's going to happen to you when we get home?"

Oops. Maybe I shouldn't have just said that.

"Do I care what happens to me?" Johnny said, "No one cares what happens to me, Ponyboy. I walk in; no one says anything. I walk out; no one says anything. The only time I get attention from my parents is when they're beating me." I put my arm around Johnny. He looked down. "Ponyboy, do you remember how I got this scar?"

Of course I remembered it. I couldn't help but feel sad every time I look at Johnny's face. It was the product of me not thinking.

It wasanother day down at the park after a movie, and me and Johnny had gone to see the newest Paul Newman hit. We were having a blast—fooling around and cutting time before we had to get home. We laid on the jungle gym talking about our future; how we were going to get out of this old neighborhood. Our new life was going to be better than how it is now. No more running from Socs, no more being those Greasers that no one likes, just living life.

"Johnnybaby, tell me what we're going to do when we get out of here."

"Well, first off Pony, you're going to college. You are by far the smartest kid I know; smarter than all the kids at school, smarter than the rest of the gang and definitely smarter than those no-good Socials. See Pony, you're special. You—"

"Now don't get all softy on me."

"No, really. Let me finish. Pony, you really have a gift. You like to read, you are deep and understanding and you can actually get farther in this world than most of us. Do you want to be like Darry for the rest of your life? Working you ass off to come home and feed two extra mouths that you didn't ask for and never have any fun? No! You are Ponyboy Curtis and you will make something of yourself. See me? I'm a nobody who's good for nothing and–

"Yes, you're right. You are good for nothing. You're just a Greaser with long, smelly, greasy hair." We were so caught up in our dream; we didn't even notice the group of Socs come up behind us.

Shit. What would Darry say I had gotten us in? You weren't thinking man.

"Do you want a haircut, Greaser?" another one egged on.

"Yeah, Grease, you getting tired of that stench following you around?" someone teased.

A little voice in my head told me to ignore them, but my stupid old heart shouted out, "Hey, Soc, tired of waking up face in the dirt with beer breath?"

God, man, you just had about done it now.

An angry voice said, "Get 'em!"

"Run, Johnny, run!" I pushed Johnny up to his feet and we bolted.

We made it about a block before Johnny fell behind.

"No Johnny!", I screamed. "Get up! Come on they're after us!"

When I looked back I could see a Soc grab him while another tried to get me. And let me say, I fought I good fight, but it all went downhill when I heard that familiar switchblade come out. At first I thought they were going to use it on me, but then I got a little more scared; they were going to use it on Johnny. Johnny, please fight back, I wished silently. Johnny, please don't let them hurt you too bad. They finished me off and I laid there in the dirt, stripped of my dignity, my pride, my everything. When I could finally pick myself up, I made my way to Johnnyboy. He looked like a stampede of horses had run over him. His hair was matted with dirt and blood, he had bruises all over. His face was cut up. Oh what had I done? Would he ever forgive me?

"Johnny, man, speak to me."

Please God. I know we don't talk much, but please don't let me loose Johnny. He is my best friend. We all need him; Me, Soda, Two-Bit, the whole gang. We are the only family he has. Please just keep him with us.

I know it sounded kind of sappy, but I really meant it; Each and every bit. I know I'm not a perfect saint, but maybe God owed me a favor because at the moment, everything seemed to be not as bad.

I got Johnny cleaned up that night when I brought him to my house. Darry looked at me with those disappointed eyes. I wished he would have yelled at me, "What were you thinking boy?" But this was much worse. He was upset with me but I could tell he just wanted to get Johnny better.

Johnny healed up pretty well later on but was left with a terrible scar where they had cut him on his face. We vowed to get out of the hood that night. And maybe that scar wasn't so bad after all; we will always remember to keep our promise.

"Pony. Ponyboy."

"Huh?"

"I said did you remember how I got this scar?"

"Oh yeah sure."

How could I not?

"Well do you remember the promise we made?"

"Of course Johnny."

"Well, let's do it!"

"You're kidding me right."

Is he serious? I mean I know we wanted to do it, but really…

"Ponyboy. It's time we leave the Greases and the Socs for good. If we stay, who knows the next time we'll get jumped. It could be today. It could be tomorrow.

He's right. We need to leave. But what will Darry and Soda think?

"Pony, you are my best friend. I can't take it anymore. I'm leaving tonight and I would want you to come."

"Ok Johnny, let's go. This will be just like in my book, Great Expectations."

"Haha, I knew it man. You are just as smart as I knew you were."

**Author's Note:**

I would like to dedicate my first FanFiction to my awesome and amazing Beta: . Yes this gal has helped me a lot and convinced me to put my first story on here. You are the best and yeah… this is dedicated to you my super awesome swaggish Beta!


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